d&b audiotechnik has announced new features for its Soundscape immersive audio platform, headed by additional developments for the En-Scene and En-Space tools.
“At d&b we are planning ahead and ensuring the Soundscape platform is not only easy to deploy and accessible, but significantly advanced for when it’s possible to have events again,” says Georg Stummer, Product Manager, d&b audiotechnik. “The features released today not only significantly increase the predictability and flexibility of Soundscape, but also the ease of implementation from small theatre productions to large, complex applications. We are constantly driven by customer feedback and these updates reflect the markets leading requests, ensuring we can further embed Soundscape as the industry standard in immersive sound and deliver further capabilities to our customers creative endeavors.”
Soundscape encompasses the DS100 Signal Engine that provides system configuration and matrix functionality that can operate in a stand-alone mode or be combined with one or both of two software modules, as well as En-Scene object-based positioning software and En-Space room-emulation software.
The En-Scene software module is an object-based positioning tool for the 64 audio inputs on the DS100 Signal engine. The sound object routing control brings individual level adjustment and mute for each sound object within each section (Function Group) of a loudspeaker system, such as mains, front fill, and out fill.
In addition to sound object routing, the update delivers two new function group modes for En-Scene. Function groups are one of the primary features that elevates the incomparable flexibility of Soundscape system. The new function group modes – “Delay Line Embedded” and “Out Fill Embedded” – support 360-degree loudspeaker configurations.
This function group update addresses the increasing number of installations that use delay lines for the audience areas within a surround (360) Soundscape setup. The 360 configurations use these delay lines either to distribute a higher number of small loudspeakers or to enable immersive sound for larger audience areas.
Meanwhile, En-Space room emulation software is designed to foster simple setup and operation to access acoustic emulations in a cost-effective way. It utilizes the sonic signatures of some of the world’s most acoustically renowned performance spaces and provides individual adjustment parameters.
With the update, En-Space now supports delay lines delivering room emulation on all loudspeaker function groups in a Soundscape system. The impulse response (IR) assignment has also been optimized for the simultaneous use of multiple instances of the same function group mode [e.g., delay line] within one loudspeaker. This development is intended to make it easier to use En-Space in a wider range of applications with multiple delay lines, including theaters with several balconies to large open-air events.
“These latest Soundscape software updates are a significant step forward for designing and installing Soundscape systems,” concludes Stummer. “They ensure this immersive technology is designed to cater to the large variety of applications and audiences we expect to see at socially-distanced events this summer season and well into the future.”
